The Butcher
by Kammie Celeek
Summary: A serial killer on the streets of Tokyo leads detective Katsuki Bakugo to ask his ex-lover for information. This turns out to be a bad idea when a human-trafficking gang of drug dealers sets their sights on her and he has to face the truth of why they ended things in the first place before she ends up dead... or worse. Rated M for violence and mentions of drug use.
1. The Butcher of Shinjuku

**So this story is a first for me in that I was not the only author.**

** This was a collaboration between me and thatguy99998 from AO3. As such, he will be listed as co-author over on that site. We spent most of today working on this so please be sure to give it a read.**

* * *

Tokyo, Japan.

A city that had two sides, like a coin. To the average resident, it was fairly safe and a busy place where you could raise a family. But that was the light side. On its darker side, Tokyo's criminal underbelly was thriving and constantly working to dismantle the sense of safety the general populous had. That never succeeded, but there was a new group rising that had the potential to do that.

And so our story begins with a man walking home from a bar, slightly tipsy as he was accompanied by his friend and they joked around about how shitty the neighborhood was. Neither of them were from around there, but the area was well-known as a hub for prostitutes and drugs—both of which the two men had come to indulge in.

Then they saw something sticking out from an alleyway. A woman's leg. The two of them headed around the corner… only to find a woman horribly butchered on the ground. Both screamed, the less-tipsy of the two fumbling to take out his phone and call the police. Within minutes, sirens were screeching and cop cars were pulling up. An officer with spiky red hair got out of the closest one and nearly gagged at the sight of the body.

"Holy shit…" whispered his partner, a man with blonde hair. "Is that another one?"

"Yeah. She matches up with the others." The red-haired officer—Kirishima, his badge said—knelt by the body and tried not to throw up. "What do we know about the guys who discovered the body?"

"Not much. Both of them were drunk as hell and they found her here. Neither of them had any blood on them and they seem like they're not coherent enough to do this kind of thing. I wouldn't rule them out, though."

"Good. This is definitely related to the case Bakugo's working."

"This isn't going to help him. He's going to be pissed that this isn't anything new."

"Oof. That's true…"

Around the corner from the murder, a man wearing a black hoodie smiled, his dry and cracked lips straining from the effort as he put a bloody knife into his pocket and started walking away.

_Stupid damn cops…_

* * *

Bakugo sighed as he looked over the report that had come in the night before.

Another woman— roughly in her late twenties, based on the autopsy—had been murdered in the slums of Tokyo. She was the fourth victim in the past month, the murder weapon seeming to have been a kitchen knife just like the previous three cases. The way in which she was murdered matched up, too—being brutally butchered in an abandoned alleyway. Though she was discovered much quicker then the others seemingly the killer could have been caught in the act, and yet a search of the area showed no fingerprints or any other sign of a rush.

"Who the fuck are you?" Bakugou mumbled to no one in particular.

A knock sounded at his door and he sighed, annoyed at the interruption.

"Come in!" he snapped.

The door opened to reveal his coworker and fellow detective, Izuku Midoriya. They'd been at the police department for the same amount of time and they'd known each other since they were little kids. That didn't mean they were necessarily close friends, though, so nowadays it was more like they were rivals for the position of top detective. Currently, Izuku held the title—a fact that Bakugo resented and made no secret of.

"Hey, Kacchan. I was just wondering if you'd finished going over the files for the "

"Just did. Anything on who the girl was?"

"Nothing much. Just that she was in her late twenties and there were drugs in her system."

"Any particular kind?"

"Coke."

"Hm."

"Um… Chief Tsukauchi wanted me to tell you that he wants us to work together on this one. Since we're the two best detectives they have…"

"Ugh…" Bakugo rolled his eyes in annoyance. "This is such bullshit. We don't have leads, we don't have useful witnesses, and we don't have any sort of motive."

"Well, maybe we could go and ask around where the body was found?"

"People in areas like that hate cops. It's gonna be like pulling fucking teeth to get anything out of anybody."

"There was a bar nearby. Maybe they heard something there?"

"Bar?"

"It's called Tsunami's," Bakugo stiffened and cringed. "You know it?"

"You could say that. Are you sure that's the bar?"

"It's the only legal one in the area, so yes."

"Fan-fucking-tastic…" He ran a hand through his ash-blonde hair, sighing. "I guess we're heading there. I really don't want to do this…"

"Why not?"

"Let's just say the owner and I had a slight disagreement and leave it at that. Grab Kirishima after work and we'll go tonight."

"All right." Izuku nodded.

* * *

In the car, Bakugo stared out the window at the passing cityscape as they went. Night had fallen and most people had headed home to enjoy the evening with their families. Not him. No, he was stuck heading to see somebody he'd had a fight with a year earlier, somebody who had made it clear—in no uncertain terms—that she never wanted to see him again.

And yet, here he was.

"This place actually looks kind of nice," Kirishima commented as they got out of the car.

"Yeah, well, the owner keeps it looking this way to attract more customers. Doesn't matter, though. The booze is good, so people keep coming."

"You sure you're up for seeing this guy again?"

"It's been a year. I'm sure it's fine."

Opening the door, the three of them entered the bar.

It was busy, which was to be expected given the hour. People were drinking like there was no tomorrow or singing along badly to "Bad Reputation" as it played over the speakers at a blaringly loud volume. Behind the bar itself there was a woman with shoulder-length brown hair grabbing some glasses off a shelf. She proceeded to turn around and set the glasses in front of a group of patrons and Izuku immediately felt his heart speed up slightly.

"Who's that?" he asked Bakugo.

"No idea. She wasn't here last time." The gruffer detective headed for the bar, leaning on the counter and looking at the brunette. "Hey, Pink Cheeks. Where's your boss?"

"Um… who are you?" she inquired, tilting her head. Her cheeks had a seemingly-permanent flush to them, which was only accented when she smiled.

"Doesn't matter. I need to talk to your boss."

"She's not here right now. If you tell me your name, I can tell her you stopped by."

"Nah, you're not hearing me. I need to talk to her directly. Kazumi Hamasaki."

He jerked his head back and a knife lodged itself in the support column right where his head had been seconds before, just as the music at the bar shifted to "Horseshoes and Hand-Grenades". Izuku whipped his head around to see a woman with white hair tied in a messy bun standing at the bottom of a staircase marked 'Employees Only', her eyes narrowed and her hand extended in a way that made it clear that she had thrown the knife.

"Never mind, Pink Cheeks. Found her." The woman—Kazumi Hamasaki, apparently—stomped over and ripped her knife out of the pillar, pointing it at Bakugo with anger in her ice-blue eyes.

"What the actual _fuck_, Kacchan?" she snarled.

"Nice to see you, too, bitch," he fired back.

"I thought I told you to never come back."

"No, you said you never wanted to see me again. There's a difference."

She exhaled sharply through her nostrils and several of her patrons walked quickly away from the bar, not wanting to be in the blast radius of her anger.

"Ochaco, for future reference, do _not_ let him in here," she told the brunette.

"Who is he?"

"Nobody important." Kazumi put the knife back in a sheath on her belt and headed behind the bar. "So what the fuck do you want, you asshole?"

"Information."

"Of course. Of course!" She nodded. "You want information!"

"Yes," Izuku agreed.

"Fuck no."

"What?! Why not?!"

"Because I know what he wants afterwards. Our old system. I give him information and then we screw upstairs. No. Not today."

"I just want the information, Water Witch!" Bakugo snapped.

"And I'm saying _you're not getting any_." She glared up at him (she was at least half a foot shorter) and he groaned.

"Fine. Fine! You fucking win." He dug into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Give me two shots of whiskey."

"I said get out."

"I'm getting a goddamn drink. I need it to deal with you."

"Of course you do. Ochaco, get it for him. I need to go check the books."

"Yes, ma'am." Ochaco nodded and Kazumi went upstairs.

"Holy shit," Kirishima marveled. "What the hell happened between you two?"

"You heard what she said."

"That you used to get information and screw her? Yeah. But you said it's been a year since you've seen her, so what happened?"

"We had a falling-out."

"She uses that knife on people who don't pay their tabs," Ochaco stated. "That was more than a falling-out."

"You don't need to know the details. We had a fight. That is all you need to know."

"Must have been some fight. Anything else I can get you?"

"No thank you." One shot already down

"Dude, how are you so calm about that? She threw a knife at you!" Kirishima asked, eyes wide.

"You think this is the first time I came back here? I wanted to avoid this place for a reason." Kazumi came back down and glared at him again.

"Fuck you anyway, Kacchan. What the hell do you want to know?"

"We want to know if you heard anything between 2:00am and 4:00am last night, any strange sounds anything—"

"Unusual. Other than literally everything?"

"Take this seriously, please. A woman was murdered." Kazumi blinked and sat down beside him, her hostility somewhat diminished.

"I know you, Kacchan. You wouldn't come here for just one murder. You tell me the real reason, I tell you what I know."

"We have reason to believe that it's a serial killer, specifically the Mad Butcher of Shinjuku."

"Oh, God… do you have a picture of the victim?"

"Right here," Izuku replied, pulling it out of the file he had in a backpack. She took it and squinted at the woman pictured.

"Is… is that Setsuna?" She tilted the picture at Ochaco, who gasped.

"It is! I haven't seen her in a while… didn't her sister stop by here looking for her?"

"Fuck." Kazumi glanced around the bar, noting that not one of the patrons was watching them as one of the drunker men clumsily put money in the jukebox in the corner and "The Sound of Silence" began to filter through the room. "Okay, here's what's going to happen: I'm going to shut down for the night. I'm going to call Ashido and ask her not to come in. And we're going to discuss this upstairs."

"Yes, ma'am," Ochaco replied, going over to inform the customers. They all filed out, paying their tabs as they went (lest they incur the wrath of the owner and her knife) and Ochaco locked the door behind them.

As for Kazumi, her phone call was short and to the point. Once that was done, she proceeded to grab two unopened bottles of whiskey and tilted her head towards the stairs. The others followed her up, straight to a rather nice-looking apartment that seemed to double as the office for the bar. Kazumi went for the kitchen, where she pulled glasses out of her cabinet and set them on the bar counter.

"None for me, thanks," Izuku told her, waving his hand. "I have to drive."

"Smart. Okay, for the rest of us, then…"

"None for me, either," Ochaco piped up. Kazumi nodded, then turned her attention back to the picture of Setsuna that she still had in her hand.

"Setsuna Koizumi. She lived in the neighborhood, but she went missing a couple months ago. And she's not the only one."

"There were others?" asked Kirishima.

"Women have been going missing around her for at least half a year now. None of them have turned up, except for Setsuna." She set the picture down and crossed her arms, leaning against the stove behind her. "Do you have pictures of other victims?"

"Yeah," Izuku sighed, pulling more out of the case file. She looked at each one, shaking her head.

"Risa… Fumiko… Miyuki… all of them went missing a while back." Ochaco had tears in her eyes as she nodded in confirmation. "Their families called the police, but…"

"Nobody seemed to give a shit," Bakugo finished.

"Exactly. I know them. Setsuna was the oldest to go missing. All the others were in college or high school."

"You think it's connected to the human-trafficking case we got in a few weeks ago?" Kirishima asked Bakugo.

"I'm sure it is. It can't be a coincidence."

"If it's human-trafficking, then it's related to the dealers who popped up not too long before the girls started going missing," Kazumi stated bluntly. "I know it. I can give you the name of their head of operations."

"Okay, how the _fuck_ do you know that?"

"He comes in from time to time and has more cash than any of the others. His name is Kai Chisaki, but he goes by Overhaul."

"Thanks." Bakugo threw back another shot, then stood up. "We'd better get going. See ya, Water Witch."

"Nope. You're banned."

"Fair enough."

Bakugo and his companions headed back downstairs and towards their car, which was miraculously untouched. Izuku glanced at his old friend, who wrenched the passenger-side door open and slammed it shut behind him.

_He and Kazumi got in that fight a year ago. Around that time, he was really excited about something and then he was suddenly really depressed. It took him two months to snap out of it._

_I wonder if their fight was the reason…_

* * *

Unbeknownst to the officers, however, they were being watched.

The very man who'd murdered Setsuna Koizumi and all the other girls was behind a corner, his face twisted into an angry scowl as he saw them leave. His attention then turned to the bar.

"You bitch…" he whispered, watching Kazumi through the window as she and Ochaco cleaned up. "You'll get what's coming to you. Just wait. You'll ruin everything if I don't take care of this place…"

He began to scratch furiously at his neck, growling as he did so.

"I'll burn it. I'll burn it down and you along with it."

He then proceeded to turn and leave, ready to go buy a lighter… and lots of kerosene.

* * *

**If you haven't figured out who the killer is… what am I saying? You've all figured out who the killer is. Most of this story is going to be angst and us torturing the characters.**

**Bakugo and Kazumi's fight did have a legitimate cause. We will just not divulge that cause as of now. We're saving it as a mystery.**

**So long and thanks for all the fish!**


	2. The Break-In

Bakugo groaned as he walked into the station the next morning.

_Note to self: Kazumi's booze is hella strong. Go easy on it next time._

His hangover did nothing to soften the blow of Kazumi cracking the case for them. She was a bartender, a bar _owner_ in a rough part of town, not a detective. But she was a businesswoman, too. The Butcher and the human-trafficking gang were bad for her business, so it was in her best interest to get the case solved as quickly as possible. He only wished that she'd talk to him for any other reason.

But as he made his way into the office, the atmosphere was grim. As if things had gotten worse for the department overnight. Todoroki—an officer who seemed to be perpetually working on some personal missing persons' case—was the only one hard at work. His typically stoic expression remained unchanged compared to everyone else's more morose outlook. Even Izuku looked unnerved and depressed.

"What's going on?" he asked his 'partner'.

"Bakugo, I need to see you and Midoriya in my office," Tsukauchi called, poking his head out of the door.

_Great. It's not even nine yet…_

The two entered Tsukauchi's office and he sighed.

"Midoriya, you've already been debriefed on what happened last night after you left the station. But… Bakugo, I think we should let you know as well."

"What the hell happened?"

"Three more bodies were found last night, all murdered in the signature manner of the Butcher. One of them was an officer who used to work for this department. Do you remember Nejire Hado?"

"The airhead? I thought she transferred to Nagasaki."

"She was supposed to, but she went missing a few months ago. There was no sign of her until we found her body last night. We also found this on the body and we think it's from the human-trafficking ring you two believe to be involved with the case."

He held out an evidence bag that contained a typed note. Bakugo took it and began to read.

_To whom it may concern,_

_We know how you work. We know what you found out. Do not attempt to interfere with our business or we will act on that._

_Do not try to stop us. Leave us be and we will not kill you or your loved ones. Let us do what is needed. This is your first warning. The second will not be so lenient to those involved. If you continue to dig, we will be forced to ensure that our goals continue to be met by any means necessary._

_Watch yourselves. Watch your actions._

_And fear our hound dog, for he always gets his mark._

_Civilization is a disease. We are the cure._

_Eight Precepts of Death._

At the bottom of the page, right by the signature, there was a symbol of a peculiar-looking lotus. Obviously the logo of the Eight Precepts. Bakugo felt sick looking at it, knowing that it had been found on a fellow officer.

"We didn't find any prints on it."

"These guys are professionals. They wouldn't risk it."

"We, er… also found kerosene outside a nearby bar. Currently, we're trying to clean it up. It appears someone was trying to burn it down."

"Nearby bar?"

"A place called Tsunami's. How much do you know about the Eight Precepts?"

"I know that they're a group of human-traffickers that mostly prey on young women. Their leader's name is Kai Chisaki and the Butcher is involved with them. If I had to guess… I'd say the Butcher is the hound dog referred to in the note."

"We'll look into it."

"If it helps, Chisaki goes by the name Overhaul."

"You're back with your old informant, eh?"

"Temporarily."

"Well, get to work and figure out where we can find them."

The two detectives exited the office and Bakugo ran for his. Izuku quickly followed, closing the door behind him.

"What's wrong?"

"If somebody was planning to burn down Kazumi's bar, then it can't be a coincidence. I have to warn her to keep an eye out."

"What exactly happened between you two?"

"None of your goddamn business. That's between me and her." He logged onto his computer and began to type out an email. "Whoever was planning to burn it down must've seen us there last night. So they know that we're trying to track the killer down and they want to stop us."

Izuku sighed and sat down across from him.

"I'm not going to leave it alone, you know."

"You really should. To put it bluntly, she's the one who ended things and she's been refusing to speak to me for a year." Bakugo looked up at him with a glare. "You're going to be as obsessed with this as Todoroki is with his personal case."

"He's looking for his sister."

"Hmph."

"If you want to talk about it, I'm here"

"Look up the guy's address where the boss lives. We're taking him down."

"All right..." Izuku headed out and Bakugo hit send on the email.

About twenty minutes later, the number-one detective on the force came back with the results.

"No records of him at all. Well, if you don't count the ticket stub which gives a P.O. box registered to someone else entirely."

"He has an ID. I doubt that's possible."

"They're still looking—something about having to do a national search. I mean, this is the biggest break-through we've had in the entire case. Have you heard anything from your informant?"

"Not yet, but she's probably still asleep. Her bar's open at night, not during the day." He rubbed his head and groaned. "I need some medication. This fucking hangover…"

He dug into his desk drawer and tried to find the small bottle of hangover medication he kept in there—just in case he came into work after a night of drinking. As he did, though, he knocked a small box out of the drawer that tumbled to the ground, right at Izuku's feet.

Out of curiosity, he picked up the box and cracked it open slightly to find…

An engagement ring.

_Wait… why would Kacchan have this? He's not with anyone… except…_

_Oh. Oh God._

Bakugo looked up from his searching to see Izuku with the box and his eyes widened with panic.

"Izuku, give that back!" He lunged for the box, which Izuku willingly dropped in his hand. Bakugo checked it to make sure the ring was okay, then snapped the box shut and shoved it into the back of his drawer.

"Your fight… it was about you proposing to her wasn't it? But why does she still hate you after a year? That makes no sense!"

"There was a lot more shit going on besides that. We exchanged words and things got heated and long story short, she hates me and we're separated."

"So why keep the ring?"

"None of your fucking business. Get the hell out."

Izuku swallowed nervously and obeyed, closing the door behind him.

"Hey, you guys make any progress?" Kirishima asked, approaching the green-haired man.

"A little, but not much. We at least know the name of the human-trafficking ring thanks to that note, and the name of the leader thanks to the info we got from Kazumi."

"What's next?"

"Now we have to wait for the national search to finish up. Once that's done, we can find an address for Chisaki and track him down and hopefully arrest him." Kirishima glanced back at Bakugo's office, looking concerned.

"He's gonna help."

"Yeah. He's just… working through some stuff. But he'll be done pretty quickly."

As if to prove his point, Bakugo came out of the office with his jacket and jabbed a finger at Izuku.

"Let's get going, nerd. I just got word on Chisaki's address from the database."

"We're gonna need a lot more backup. For all we know their entire base is under the house."

"Monoma's team is sitting around doing nothing. We can ask them to be ready to respond to our call for backup. And Todoroki isn't busy. He can ride with us."

"Okay. Let's go."

The drive to Chisaki's house proved to be very awkward, mostly because Izuku had so many burning questions about Kazumi. Not once in the twenty-five years they'd known each other had Bakugo ever mentioned her. She even called him Kacchan—a name that Bakugo despised and only allowed his oldest acquaintances to call him. Something Izuku treasured. Thankfully, Chisaki's house was only five minutes away from the station, so it wasn't awkward for long.

Unfortunately, nobody was home and they didn't have a warrant to enter the premises, leaving them stuck watching the outside of the house. Izuku swallowed nervously, wanting to broach the subject of the fight again but not knowing how to do it. Bakugo's focus was on the house itself. Todoroki was reading through some reports that he'd brought along.

"Do you do anything but read case reports?" Izuku asked his fellow officer.

"I'm looking for someone. So far, I haven't had any luck finding her."

"A girlfriend?"

"My sister. She was disowned by our father when she ran away from home several years ago and I haven't had contact with her since. For all I know, she's dead."

"Yeah, well, we don't have fucking time for this." Bakugo opened the door and got out, grabbing his gun and walking towards the house. The others scrambled to follow him, Izuku rushing up beside him.

"Kacchan, maybe we should get a warrant—"

"It takes a fucking week to get a warrant, Deku. I'm not waiting a week for answers. Let's get in there and bust some shit up."

They reached the door and Bakugo pulled a couple Bobby pins out and proceeded to unlock the door. He entered first, expecting a somewhat normal house—not literally nothing like they found waiting inside.

"It's abandoned. The guy duped us. Check if he left anything behind."

From there, they began to check every area of the house they could, starting upstairs and working their way down. But there was literally nothing except plywood. It was completely and totally empty. Bakugo let out a frustrated growl.

"Let's go. Obviously we're not going to find this Chisaki guy here. Damn bastard…"

Izuku heard something as he walked by a door, though. Like muffled screaming. He went back to the door, ripping it open and rushing down the stairs. Faintly, he heard something snap but he wasn't concerned about that. When he reached the bottom, there was a little girl tied to an exposed pipe on the far wall. Upon seeing him, she looked relieved and started crying. There was a note pinned to her shirt, which Bakugo snatched and began to read.

_To whom it may concern,_

_You now see how we are willing to put children through horrors untold. Now everything you care about will go up in smoke. I hear alcohol burns very well._

_Civilization is a disease. We are the cure._

_The Eight Precepts of Death._

The same lotus logo from the note found the night before was stamped next to the signature.

Bakugo felt his heart stop for a moment at the words 'up in smoke' and 'alcohol burns well'. His immediate reaction was to drop the note and run for the stairs. Todoroki followed him upon reading the note and wanted to ensure his companion didn't do anything stupid. This, however, meant Izuku was alone with the girl attempting to comfort her as he took out his pocket-knife to saw through the ropes binding her to the pipe.

"It's gonna be okay," he assured her, the ropes breaking. They were already slightly frayed from the girl struggling and broke far more easily than he'd expected.

Clearly, she'd been put here on purpose.

"Are you okay?" he asked, picking her up. She nodded.

"Thank you," she whispered hoarsely before passing out.

As he carried her out of the house, all he could think about was why they would do such a thing. This girl couldn't have been older than six, hardly in line with the typical victims the Eight Precepts seemed to go after.

Then a horrible thought occurred to him.

_They did it because of me. They knew I loved kids, which means they've been watching us._

_Wait, if they've been watching us…_

The note from before was lying on the ground where the car had been. Izuku shifted the girl so he could pick it up and read the contents. His eyes widened and his heart started pounding.

_Kazumi._


	3. The Message

His destination was clear: Tsunami's.

Bakugo drove like a madman as Todoroki held on for dear life in the passenger seat. But the ash-blonde didn't care. His only thought was a silent prayer that Kazumi was okay, that the Eight Precepts hadn't gotten to her yet. Maybe he'd get there in time. She had to be okay. They hadn't made up yet. He'd never forgive himself if she died before she forgave him.

All hope was dashed when he saw the lights.

Blaring lights from fire trucks were outside, an ambulance was treating some people who got minor burns, but Kazumi herself was nowhere to be seen. Bakugo didn't even bother turning off the car as he got out and ran to the site, only to be stopped by a man with long black hair.

"Sorry, but nobody other than burn unit and fire crew are allowed in the area," the man told him.

"Fuck off! I'm law enforcement and I'm going in there!" Bakugo tried to push his way through, but Todoroki turned his attention to a woman he recognized as Ryuko Tsuchikawa.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The fire broke out about ten minutes ago. According to some of the patrons who were in the bar at the time, the bartender is still inside trying to rescue the owner."

Bakugo froze and whipped around to face her.

"Why the hell aren't you helping?!"

"I'm burn unit! I've been taking care of those who were already injured and out! Besides, the building is unstable because the alcohol is extremely flammable!"

The detective stopped listening and ran for the building, again being stopped by the black-haired man who Todoroki recognized as Shouta Aizawa. This time, though, the man physically restrained his younger associate.

"We don't need any hot-headed cops going in there and making things worse, Bakugo. Calm down."

"No! I can't lose her! Let me _through_!"

Suddenly, the front door flew open to reveal Ochaco carrying an unconscious Kazumi. Both women had several burns and their skin and hair were scorched. Kazumi's clothes were even smouldering. Bakugo's eyes widened and he ran over to help.

"No. No, you're not leaving me," he told her, helping Ochaco support the white-haired woman. "Please."

Ryuko ran over and took Kazumi, carrying the woman over to a gurney. Todoroki finally got a look and he gasped. Bakugo had never seen the man rush like he did over to Kazumi.

"Kazumi!" Todoroki said, grabbing her hand. Her eyes opened slightly, focusing on the man in front of her.

"Shoto…?" she rasped.

"We need to get her to the hospital," stated Shino, another woman in the burn unit while Ryuko tended to Ochaco's less-severe injuries. "What's her name?"

"Kazumi Hamasaki," Bakugo replied, his voice cracking. Todoroki shook his head.

"Her name is Kazumi Todoroki. She's my twin sister. My baby sister."

"Well, if you're family, then we'll need you to fill out her information." Shino proceeded to get Kazumi into the ambulance, which drove away from the scene with its sirens blaring.

Bakugo and Todoroki got back into their car with Ochaco, who was also going to need medical treatment for her burns. Hers weren't nearly as severe as Kazumi's; in fact, it appeared that Kazumi was the only person seriously injured by the fire. Bakugo squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before he started the car, following the ambulance.

"How do you know Kazumi?" Todoroki asked.

"She was an informant of mine until we got in a massive fight a year ago."

"I think there was more to it than that."

"...she also might have been my fuck-buddy. Look, I didn't _know_ she was your sister. If I had, I would've told you where she was and you could've had your totally-heartfelt reunion or whatever."

"You were sleeping with my sister."

"We broke it off a year ago. Don't worry. I'm not gonna be your brother-in-law or some shit… yet"

"You know who our father is, correct?"

"Shit-head? Also likes to use the word endeavor?"(not a noun)

"Times that by 100 and you have our home life, abusive to us and our mom. And makes shit look like a better father figure."

"How are you so sure she's your sister anyway? From what I've experienced you're way different in personality then her; hell, the only characteristic that you both have is white hair… oh yeah that makes sense."

"How the hell is this woman alive? There are second degree burns on over 85 percent of her body at least. She should be at the point where her heart should be blocked up! It's a miracle she is alive right now," the paramedic driving the ambulance commented.

"If she can survive a miscarriage from me, she can survive that. You have her on iv right?" the other paramedic asked.

At the statement about Kazumi's miscarriage, both Todoroki and Bakugo tensed up.

_She lost the baby because of that woman?!_

_Kazumi was pregnant? And judging by the fact that bakugou tensed up… later shouto later._

The rest of the ride was quiet except for the paramedics who worked to save Kazumi. As they arrived at the hospital, Todoroki pulled Bakugo aside to ask him something.

"Was that your child the paramedic mentioned?"

"I don't know it probably was, but for all I know she got with someone else."

"SHIT!"

A woman with pale pink hair tripped in the entryway, panting heavily as she made it through the doors.

"Pinky?" Bakugo inquired, tilting his head.

"Hey, Bakugo!" She dusted off her pants. "How bad is Kazumi?"

"Pretty damn bad. She looked more like a burned steak then a human."

"To put what bakugou said in correct terms, she has a ton of second degree burns but the paramedics said only a few area's got burned to the nerves."

"Oh, God…"

"Apparently, this is the second bad thing that paramedic has seen happen to her medically. She mentioned something about a miscarriage."

"Yeah." Ashido looked melancholy at the mention. "I'm not sure of all the details, but I do know that it was about a year ago—a few days before you and her got into that fight."

Bakugo's face paled even further.

"Then, how the hell is that woman not in prison? Manslaughter is a year in prison at least right?"

"I was there after it happened. She did go to prison, but she got out early because of both good behavior and the fact that she was unaware Kazumi was pregnant. All I know is that woman punched Kazumi in the stomach and these two officers who were at the bar arrested her. Mirio and Nejire, I believe."

"Oh, God…" Bakugo leaned against the wall, trying to stay upright. "Fuck. She… she told me it was a false alarm—that she wasn't even pregnant to begin with."

"You'll have to ask her about it. I'm not sure why she would lie. It was… really bloody. I took her to the hospital as soon as I got there."

"I need to make a phone call," stated Todoroki, looking upset and more than a little sick.

Ashido turned her attention to Bakugo, feeling worried when she saw him looking sick as well.

"You okay?"

"No, I'm not fucking okay! I just found out that the woman carrying my child miscarried and not only didn't tell me, but now she's in the emergency room being swarmed by doctors! And to add to that I won't get to apologize for being such a jackass to her!"

"Find out who did this, then. It's your job, isn't it? Mr. Detective."

"Yeah. You're right. I have to." He took a deep breath and dug into his coat pocket to find a pen and a small pad of paper he carried just in case. "Here's my number. Call me if there's any updates in her condition. For better or for worse." Bakugo then turned around and left thinking over everything that had happened in the last few hours.

_The bastard knew we would go after them, how the hell does he know so much about us? Wait… there was a kid at the house. And Deku ran downstairs without thinking. If they know so much about us, then they know he's a sucker for kids and he would do that…_

_ It was a trap. The house was a trap to send a message. Dammit!_

_ Where the hell is Deku now anyway?_

* * *

"And you just found her alone?"

"Yeah. The house was completely empty except for her."

Izuku glanced at the little girl, who was now sitting on a chair with Momo Yaoyorozu—a woman who dealt with child abuse cases and often comforted them while evidence was being gathered. Eri appeared to have improved slightly since arriving at the station, at least to the point where they didn't have to take her to the hospital.

"And where did Bakugo and Todoroki take off to?" Iida continued, looking slightly annoyed that the two had just ditched Izuku and the little girl.

"If I had to guess, I'd say a bar on the other side of town. The owner is the reason we even found out about Chisaki in the first place and… well… Kacchan cares about her. He's worried that she might be in danger."

As if to confirm his suspicion, his phone started going off.

"Hello?"

_"Deku, where the hell are you?"_

"I'm at the station. Where are _you_?"

_"I'm at the hospital. Tsunami's… it was on fire when I got there. Kazumi is in critical condition and I'm getting ready to head back to the station as soon as Todoroki finishes up his fucking phone call. Oh, by the way, apparently, she's his long-lost sister he's been looking for, so that's another thing to add to this clusterfuck."_

"O_o_h. That's… I'm sorry, Kacchan. I know how much you care about her."

_"It's… there's a lot going on in my mind. None of it you need to fucking know. So how about we just focus on finding this bastard and putting him away for life?"_

"Yeah. Okay. I'll see you soon."

_"Oh. And we need to have a talk about the basement. Like whether or not there was some kind of trigger down there."_

"A trigger? What do you mean?"

_"I'll explain later. For now, just look into the missing-person cases from the area and let me know if any of them match the kid we found."_

"_I_ found."

_"We were both there, Deku."_

"Because you cared about her at all Kacchan."

_"Excuse me for being more worried about the woman I love being burned alive in a fire than a kid who had a cop to rescue her!"_

"Okay, sorry. That was unfair."

_"I'll see you later. Bye."_

"Bye." Izuku hung up.

"Is he on his way back?" Iida inquired.

"In a few minutes. Todoroki is on the phone with someone."

(I'm thinking let eri speak here,)

"Mr. Izuku?" asked a little voice. He looked down to see Eri tugging at his shirt.

"Yes Eri? What is it?"

"What is gonna happen to me now? Your not gonna put me back with the bird people right?"

"The bird people?"

"Chisaki. They wear bird masks."

"Why would we give you back to them? We're trying to arrest them for what they did! And it would be wrong to give you back even if we weren't!" Eri gave him a tiny smile, then hugged his leg.

"Thank you, Mr. Izuku."

* * *

"Who were you talking to on the phone?" Bakugo asked once Todoroki finished his phone call.

"My mother. She of all people deserves to know Kazumi is alive, and besides, I think Kazumi will appreciate having one person from our family there when she wakes up. That and the medical staff will want her childhood medical records."

They headed back out to the car, an awkward silence between them as neither one wanted to bring up the now-unconscious and comatose woman they shared a connection to. Todoroki, however, realized that he did need some clarification on why exactly Bakugo and Kazumi had their fight. It had _something_ to do with the baby Kazumi had lost, but as to what, he didn't know.

"What exactly happened between you and my twin sister?"

"...you really wanna know?"

"Yes. I think I should know what your connection to her is."

"I already told you—she was my informant and my fuck-buddy."

"There was more to it than that. If she had just been your friend with benefits, then you wouldn't care this much. You'd be upset, sure, but you wouldn't have told Izuku that you love her."

"...dammit. Fine." Bakugo took a deep breath. "Over a year ago, she found out she was pregnant. I was the only guy she was hooking up with, so the baby was mine and I was really excited to be a dad. But I also wanted to make things right, so… I bought her a ring and asked her to marry me. She turned me down and told me that the pregnancy test was a false positive. I didn't believe her and we got into a huge argument because of it and so… she refused to speak to me for a year."

"I'm not surprised she turned you down. You two hardly had a relationship that was good to turn into a marriage."

"I didn't care about that at the time. I was more concerned that she was lying to me about the false alarm." Todoroki sighed.

"Did you at least try to talk to her before you went to her for information last night?"

"Yes. She never wanted to talk to me, so I… just stopped trying after about six months."

"Well, she stopped talking to me for six years because she was trying to cut ties with our father and didn't want to risk him dragging her back home, so I completely understand where she's coming from."

"...did that fucker treat her the way he treated you."

"Yes. Only for her, it was a little worse because our father is a misogynist. He saw her as inferior to me because she was a girl, and when she started rebelling against him, it got even more terrible."

"God…" He sighed. "How did your mom take it?"

"Well, she was locked in a mental institution when we were four. She wasn't around much, but we did visit her. In fact, she was only released because I pushed for it in court and got her out shortly after Kazumi ran away."

"Where the fuck is the asshole? I'm gonna punch him right fucking now. You don't do that shit and get away with it."

"What's done is done. We can't undo it. And right now, we need to focus on catching Chisaki."

"Fine but when this is over I'm punching him!"

* * *

In the hospital, however, the very man they were looking for walked down the hall towards Kazumi's room. It had been a few hours since Bakugo and Todoroki had left, and now Rei Todoroki sat by her long-lost daughter's bedside. Chisaki had a bouquet of flowers in a vase—specifically, black roses, orange lilies, and begonias. He rapped on the doorframe, getting Rei's attention.

"Oh, hello," she greeted him, looking up from her heavily-bandaged daughter. "Are you a friend of Kazumi's?"

"Yes," he replied, wearing an expression akin to concern and care. "I heard about the fire. I always went to her bar after work and she picked up my spirits daily. So I thought I'd bring her something."

"Thank you." Rei took the flowers from him and set them on her daughter's nightstand. "I'm sure she'll love them when she wakes up."

"It's unfortunate what happened to her. I'm sure she'll wake up soon."

"I want the people who did this to her found and arrested. My son will make sure of it."

"I have no doubt, ma'am." She gave him a patient smile and he gave her a false one back. Then he turned and walked out of the room.

His message had been sent. A trap had been set.

Now the cops just had to take the bait.


End file.
